Do you remember...?

[Boerseun]

There were things we took for granted which simply disappeared quietly off the face of the earth. For instance, prior to the '90s, movies and TV shows had certain frames contain a little flashing circle in the top left corner as time markers! You remember those? It was very inconspicuous, but you knew when you saw those little flashing circles that the movie is either 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 over. With the advent of digital programming with digital time markers, that was the end of that. But it went of for years...

 

Any other quirky things you remember that simply disappeared without a song and dance?

[Buffy]

My uncle had a bunch of old 45-RPM singles (he had reel-to-reel tapes too, but I'll save that for another post!). If you're too young to remember them they were half the diameter of a "long playing" record album, and for some reason, they had a one inch hole in the middle instead of a 1/4" spindle hole like the LPs (I don't know why: maybe one of the real oldsters around here could explain why), but to get them to play on a regular turn table there were these little plastic disks with I think 3 or 4 spokes that you could wedge into the one-inch hole and it had a quarter inch hole that would fit the spindle on the record player. My cousin and I used to have little "wars" throwing these things at each other--with the proper flick, they were like tiny frisbees--until some grown up would come along and scream "you'll put someone's eye out with those things!"

 

The length of this explanation goes to how obscure they are. I can get my hands on them only because I have a couple of friends who collect vintage reggae albums, many of which are 45s, but I'm sure 90% of these thingies disappeared off the face of the earth in the 1980s...

 

Trivia hunt: did they have a *name*?

 

I oneder,

Buffy

[Turtle]

Any other quirky things you remember that simply disappeared without a song and dance?

 

Ink bottle holes in school desks. :shrug:

 

My uncle had a bunch of old 45-RPM singles (he had reel-to-reel tapes too, but I'll save that for another post!). If you're too young to remember them they were half the diameter of a "long playing" record album, and for some reason, they had a one inch hole in the middle instead of a 1/4" spindle hole like the LPs (I don't know why: maybe one of the real oldsters around here could explain why), but to get them to play on a regular turn table there were these little plastic disks with I think 3 or 4 spokes that you could wedge into the one-inch hole and it had a quarter inch hole that would fit the spindle on the record player. My cousin and I used to have little "wars" throwing these things at each other--with the proper flick, they were like tiny frisbees--until some grown up would come along and scream "you'll put someone's eye out with those things!"

 

The length of this explanation goes to how obscure they are. I can get my hands on them only because I have a couple of friends who collect vintage reggae albums, many of which are 45s, but I'm sure 90% of these thingies disappeared off the face of the earth in the 1980s...

 

Trivia hunt: did they have a *name*?

 

I oneder,

Buffy

 

Lengthy!? nahhhh... obscure!?... only relatively. I remember when I couldn't type '45rpm hole filler' into a box on my 'tv' and get an answer lickety split.:naughty:

 

Some models of phonographs had the 45 adaptor either built in as a pop-up at the center for single record jobs, or snap-on adaptor for player styles that dropped stacks, making multiple adaptors for records unnecessary. Uhh...not that I was there. :)

 

Note the large centre hole which needs an adaptor to make it fit a regular UK style spindle was already a feature and that coloured vinyl was not such a novelty in the 1940s!

History of the 45 rpm Record

 

:cup: :eek:

[Jay-qu]

Floppy disks

 

Im too young to remember the 8 inch ones, but I have seen the 5.25 and 3.5 disappear into the history books!

[Tormod]

Tape cassettes! I remember buying a "portable" DVD player back in 1986 (it weighed a ton and spent 8 AA batteries in about 90 minutes), after which I stopped using cassettes. I still get surprised when I walk into a Virgin Megastore in London and they actually still sell tapes! They are pretty much impossible to find in Norway now.

 

I also used them to store games and data for my Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Oh those were the days... :naughty:

[Boerseun]

'80s hair!!! :D

 

Went through a family album a few days ago, and my family seems to have consisted of a concatenation of sideburns, lambchops, ducktails, afros and beehives! With all that hairspray in the house, it's a wonder we didn't explode everytime my dad lit a cigarette!

 

Then, on the other hand, we will look back on the 2000's twenty years from now, and wonder why everybody spent two to three hours each morning making themselves look like they don't look after themselves at all.

 

Ayayay... people. Can't live with them, can't kill them.

[HappytheStripper]

I remember when remote control units transmitted their signal.. by a cord.. as opposed to the infra-red of now-a-days..

 

... and.. I remember the first computer mum had @ home.. it was capable of holding around 8kbs of programming.. and programs were loaded by cassette..

 

.. then of course.. those were the days.. of yester-year..

 

Ashley

[Cedars]

Car light dimmer switches on the floor that you clicked with your foot.

[Turtle]

Car light dimmer switches on the floor that you clicked with your foot.

 

;)

 

Generators rather than alternators in automobiles & if you slowed down the lights dimmed. ;) :)

[Monomer]

I remember going to the video store as a kid and having the choice of Beta or VHS. Now with DVDs around I don't bother with vidoes anymore.

[HappytheStripper]

What about the telephones with the dial on them.. and having to call the operator to place a national call..

[Turtle]

A vacuum-tube testing & sales kiosk by the front door of every market. :beer:

[Monomer]

hand-written letters :beer:

[InfiniteNow]

Boiling food, eating only once weekly, before insulin, and still dying very quickly.

[Boerseun]

Boiling food, eating only once weekly, before insulin, and still dying very quickly.

You're giving away your age, dude!

:beer:

[eric l]

hand-written letters :beer:

 

I still write them - occasionally !

[InfiniteNow]

You're giving away your age, dude!

:beer:

 

I never said I remembered it... ;)

 

Short acting basal rate pumping bolus surging, there's no other way.

 

 

What about the turn crank on the hood of the car to start the engine?